San Fermín 1905 had four bull runs (encierros), every morning from Friday, July 7, to Monday, July 10, at six where the programme gives the hour, with bulls of the Conde de Espoz y Mina, Miura, Muruve and the Duque de Veragua. The paper reported the runs of July 9 and 10 as passing without incident.2, 3, 7, 6, 9
By Encierro · Last reviewed
The fiesta opened with the vísperas on July 6.10 The first act of July 7 was the encierro: “A las seis en punto el disparo de un cohete anunciará la salida de los toros” from the small corral of the Portal de Rochapea, after military bands and gaiteros had played the dianas.2
There was a run every morning from July 7 to July 10. On July 9 two lots ran in one encierro, and the programme for July 10 called it “el último de los tradicionales encierros por este año”, the last of the traditional encierros of the year. That morning the paper added that once it was over, the boards and planks of the fencing would come down from the streets: “desaparecerán las tablas y tablones de las calles”.5, 7, 8
The encierro was one of the fiesta’s free shows; a preview column counted it among the “espectáculos gratuitos como el clásico encierro de los toros”.1 The best view, though, cost money: 1,172 box seats in the ring were sold for the first encierro, against about 1,500 the year before, and 724 for the second.4
| Date | Run | Ranch (ganadería) | What the paper reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 7 | 1 | Conde de Espoz y Mina | Programme: rocket at six from the Portal de Rochapea |
| July 8 | 2 | Miura | Programme: six Miura bulls named |
| July 9 | 3 | Carriquiri (Espoz y Mina) and Muruve | “Sin incidente alguno” |
| July 10 | 4, last | Duque de Veragua | No incidents; four young men fined |
Run 1 of 4
At six sharp a rocket sent the bulls of the Conde de Espoz y Mina, the Pamplona ranch formerly known as Carriquiri,11 out of the small corral of the Portal de Rochapea.2 1,172 box seats in the ring were sold for this first encierro.4
Run 2 of 4
The programme announced “la entrada de los seis toros sevillanos de la ganadería de Miura” through the Portal de Rochapea at six sharp, and named them (see the bulls below).3 724 box seats were sold for this encierro.4
Run 3 of 4
The programme brought both lots in on one encierro: the Carriquiri bulls of the Conde de Espoz y Mina and the Muruve bulls5 from Seville.14 “Sin incidente alguno se celebró ayer el encierro de los toros de Muruve”, the paper reported, though some bulls stayed a few moments in the ring before going to the corrals.6
Run 4 of 4, the last
The Duque de Veragua bulls ran the last encierro.7 “El encierro de ayer, último de este año, se verificó sin incidentes”. Two of the bulls stayed in the ring for five minutes without anyone bothering them, and the ring was cleared for fear that a bull still in the callejón would come back out into it.9 Four young men who had bothered the bulls during the run were fined.12
The six bulls the programme named for the entrada of July 8, with their numbers and coats.3
| No. | Name | Coat (as printed) | Coat in English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Regatón | negro zaíno | solid black |
| 34 | Barquillero | negro bragado | black, with white on the belly |
| 56 | Marchenero | berrendo en negro | black and white pied |
| 92 | Cantarito | negro bragado | black, with white on the belly |
| 107 | Jilguerito | castaño | chestnut |
| 112 | Pimiento | colorado ojo de perdiz | red, with brighter red rings round the eyes |
Two winged women, one in yellow and one in red, rise through a blue and golden sky carrying a garland of flowers, a laurel branch and the arms of Pamplona. Ollaquindía calls the poster “un tanto etéreo o desprendido de la realidad sanferminera”, a little ethereal, detached from the reality of San Fermín, with its two ángelas.14, 13
The poster announces the fiestas for July 7 to 10 and names the ranches whose bulls came: Joaquín Muruve and Eduardo Miura of Seville, the Duque de Veragua of Madrid and the Conde de Espoz y Mina of Pamplona. It also lists the morning concerts with Pablo Sarasate, the electric illuminations, encierros, fireworks, giants and big-heads, dianas and the music of the dulzainas.14
A memory of 1905
Joaquín Roa, quoted by Ollaquindía, remembered the encierros of those years as calm, “aunque ahora pueda parecer extraño que yo hable de tranquilidad en una carrera de toros sueltos por las calles”. For some years a Pamplona man, Luis Inarra, was always the last into the ring: cap in hand, right on the horns, he took cover at the barrier without getting in the herd’s way to the corrals. “Era un bello espectáculo.”13
The city
Roa also remembered the days before the fiesta: the stalls going up on the Paseo de Valencia, carousels and churro stands in the Ensanche, and the violinist Pablo Sarasate arriving at the Hotel La Perla, greeted in the street by people raising their hats.13
Words of 1905
In 1905 the paper used both words: la entrada of the Miura bulls in the programme of July 8, and encierro for the other runs. It called the run clásico and tradicional, already old in 1905.2, 3, 6, 7, 1
Photographs
The city’s photo archive, the Fototeca de Pamplona, holds historic photographs of the encierro, free to view online.15
San Fermín 1905 had four bull runs, every morning from Friday, July 7, to Monday, July 10, 1905, with bulls of the Conde de Espoz y Mina (July 7), Miura (July 8), Carriquiri and Muruve together (July 9) and the Duque de Veragua (July 10).2, 3, 5, 7
The Diario de Navarra reported the runs of July 9 and 10, 1905 as passing without incident. Four young men who had bothered the bulls during the run of July 10 were fined.6, 9, 12
The running of the bulls was one of the fiesta’s free shows in 1905, but seats in the ring cost money: 1,172 box seats were sold for the first encierro, against about 1,500 the year before, and 724 for the second.1, 4
Luis Inarra, a Pamplona man, was for some years always the last runner into the ring in the encierros of the early 1900s, as Joaquín Roa remembered: cap in hand, right on the horns, he took cover at the barrier without getting in the herd’s way to the corrals.13
J. Mongrell made the San Fermín 1905 poster, signed on the poster itself: two winged women rise through a blue and golden sky with a garland of flowers, a laurel branch and the arms of Pamplona.14, 13
Numbers on the page refer to this list. Diario de Navarra pages are cited from its archive (hemeroteca); quotations in Spanish are given as printed, in the spelling of the day.
Encierro. “Running of the Bulls 1905: San Fermín in Pamplona.” Encierro.com, November 9, 2026. https://encierro.com/san-fermin-1905/